"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
In article , Nate Nagel
wrote:
had a small repair job to do this PM and my beloved Weller soldering
station was left in my friend's garage as I've been helping him rewire
an old Avanti...

so I stop at Radio Shack on my way home and pick up the cheapest
soldering iron they have along with a small roll of solder... get home
and I realize the solder is marked "60/40 Rosin Core Solder." Now it
doesn't say what the 60 and the 40 stand for...

60% tin, 40% lead

but... I just realized
that this is the first time i've seen same in years... have the rules
been relaxed to allow the sale of non-lead-free solder again?

That may be a state-by-state thing, but here in Indiana at least, the sale
of
leaded solder was never prohibited.

or did I
stumble across some old stock? Last time I bought solder was maybe 5
years ago and I couldn't find goold old 60/40 to save my life...

You weren't looking in the right places, then. I've never had any trouble
finding leaded solder -- especially at electronics-supply stores. There's
no
reason to require lead-free solder on anything but potable water.

Lead solder can be purchased in Ontario, Canada. It is illegal to use it on
potable water, but I went through a bit of it installing a tricky shower
control with body sprays. Tin/lead solder guaranteed that my joints were
good and not leakers. I have experienced non-lead soldered joints testing
good with no signs of a leak, but start to leak three months after they were
put into use. This could possibly be in a sealed wall, where a slow leak
could do a lot of damage.